Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128156
AMAIChevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Series Round 617: Road Atlant By PAUL CARRUTHERS PHOTOS BY HENNY RAY ABRAMS BRASELTON, GA, MAY 18ยท19 W hat a difference a year makes. At the conclusion of last year's Big Kahuna Nationals at Road Atlanta, the Yoshimura Suzuki team was riding high, having finished onetwo-three in both rounds in Georgia. American Honda, on the other hand, was floundering, with Nicky Hayden finishing fourth in race one and crashing out of race two, ending the weekend a massive 55 points behind series leader Mat Mladin. Miguel DuHamel also had a miserable time on his RC51 in 2001, crashing out of one race and finishing sixth in the other. But that was then, and this is now. This year, it was Honda's turn to shine at Road Atlanta. Hayden continued his masterful run to the AMA/Chevy Trucks Superbike National Championship, winning both races and leaving the facility with the coveted title of Big Kahuna. His teammate, DuHamel, had finished second on Saturday and third on Sunday. Things are currently good at Big Red - very good. The Blimpie Yoshimura Suzuki team, meanwhile, has gone from hot to frigid, with none more so than the its defending Superbike National Champion and team leader Mladin. Over the course of the two days, the Australian finished fifth and sixth as he continued to search for answers to making his Suzuki GSX-R750 handle the way it should - or the way it did. He leaves Road Atlanta searching for something he doesn't believe he will find. He also leaves Road Atlanta a whopping 99 points behind Hayden, his run for a fourth successive AMA Superbike crown now nothing more than a pipedream. Mladin's teammate, Jamie Hacking, also had a rough go of it. The South Carolinan finished a struggling seventh on Saturday, then crashed out of Sunday's National, adding further peril to the besieged team. S MAY 29, 2002' cue I e NIcIQr IIQden _ u.lSlopp.bIe lIurIng the I!llg Ka~ Sup.rblke .............., at Road AtIantII. 11Ie flIctoo7 HaIIda ..... - . both . . _ .... RC51 8nd .. the ~ leIoder III the AlIA SuperbIke NatIonIII a-pIoI.....p. The only savior in all of this for the Suzuki squad was Aaron Yates, the Georgian continuing to ride hard and never give up. He ended up third and fourth over the course of the two days, apparently able to deal with some of the problems that his teammates are struggling with. He'd tried something different for Sunday's race n e _ s after finishing a close third on Saturday, but it backfired. Still, he trudged on to finish fourth. Of course, the weekend belonged to Honda, with its rising star and its respected veteran - Hayden and DuHamel. But Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom deserves almost equal billing. While DuHamel was the only one who could really keep Hayden honest on Saturday, on Sunday that man was Bostrom. Riding a motorcycle he still hasn't gotten sorted out the way he would like, Bostrom hounded Hayden to the very end. passing him ever so briefly ,on the final lap, only to be repassed when he couldn't hold his line in the turn-10 bus-stop chicane.